Sunday, January 27, 2008

"Delta Shop Units Are Complete Tools"

And to prove it, the 1953 catalog wants to show you that the little woman can even use the drill press.

One of the inset photos shows a woman with the Delta Shop drill press and the text reads, "Easy to swing drill press into position -- no heavy motor to lift. Tool is perfectly balanced."

And isn't that what every 50's man wanted -- a woman in his shop?

But the reality is that the little woman may object to you buying yourself a pricey, manly toy. In order to over-come any protests on her part, be sure to remind her how practical it is: "Mix foods, salad dressings, meringues, paints and similar things with your drill press."

Of course, if your little woman was one who had herself a job during the war, she really might want to use it. So let her use the drill press to clean those pots and pans; it's "one of many types of jobs women will appreciate."

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Chickens On Wheels

While they're not exactly the thing my mom collects, My vote is for "terrifying" as these pass through town. "Alien Chickens Attacking!" the headlines will read, and parents will lock their kids in the basement for safety rather than being out past curfew.

They could just be from the UK -- in September, a study was released saying people reacted more quickly to animals in the road than other vehicles, so the only logical deduction to get there is that if cars looked more like animals, people would drive safer. I do admit, if a fifteen-foot-tall chicken were approaching at 100kph down the Autobahn, I'd do the bangers and mash on the brake pedal.

Now, before you think that this is a great idea for a fried chicken delivery truck -- because, I mean, if the truck looks like chicken, the fried chicken must be darn good, right? -- I'll type for you the caption on the back of this postcard:

SPERRY'S FAMOUS CHICKEN WAGON. Fleets of these animated trucks that cackle and crow are an important part of Sperry's CHICKEN DINNER candy bar promotions.

First, get past the 'animated, cackling, crowing' part, and then I'll wait for your double-take on those last three words. I don't know if this means that Sperry's, a candy maker from Milwaukee, experimented with different flavors, much like Jones Soda has -- there's lots of speculation online, but they might have just been chocolate bars with a chicken as the logo. There's a bunch more here, including earlier chicken trucks. If you want to read the side of the trucks better, this guy has a closeup of the fourth truck from the left.

The postcard itself was published by "Barg and Foster Candy Co., Milwaukee Wis., 91626" -- the ZIP code, but the old abbreviation, would probably place this card from the 1960s.